DST, ESRI sign MoU on national spacial database

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt of India, today signed two Memoranda of Understanding with a US company, ESRI, which entail pooling of resources of the two sides to create a National Spatial Data Infrastructure for the country and taking the concept of mapping to schools. Under the agreement, California-based Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) would provide software for the two projects and also train people for the initial running of the project. “The parties desire to pool their experiences and resources in taking the concept of NSDI beyond access to standardised geospatial data to operationalising embedded applications and solutions to cater to the social needs,” the MoU on NSDI says. The project `Mapping Your Neighbourhood’, involving school children aims to conduct mapping exercises in 100 schools across the country. The schools would act as the primary hubs for all mapping activity and the maps generated would serve as an educational tool for students leading to an efective neighbourhood mapping and decision making tool that can be used for awareness and planning local issues, DST Secretary V S Ramamurthy said.